Lofts, restaurant planned for dilapidated 9 First Street

TROY - The dilapidated building at 9 First Street in downtown Troy has been vacant since 1996, when it was shuttered by the city due to its uninhabitable state. It has suffered from neglect in the intervening years, and now has gaping holes in the floors and a staircase that has detached from the structure, but two city natives see new life in the old structure.

Jeffrey A. Buell, 29, a former executive with the United Group of Cos. and city spokesperson, is spearheading the project. He and partner Chris Colwell, 33, were approved to purchase the four-story, 8,100 square-feet building on May 10 by the Troy Local Development Corp.

Currently owned by the TLDC, a city development nonprofit, the purchase is expected to be finalized in the next couple of weeks, after which time they will enter into an agreement to develop the property.

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The partners intend to raise $500,000 from investors to rehabilitate the structure into restaurant space on the ground level and 1,800 square-feet, single-floor lofts on the upper levels. They expect to begin gutting the building in the next month, and their application to the LDC stated an expectation to complete the apartments in eight months with a restaurant to open shortly thereafter.

Buell and Colwell are looking to rehabilitate a structure that has stood on that plot since it was completed in 1864, during the Civil War years. The brownstone edifice with an iron front was originally home to a bookseller and binder owned by William H. Young, who published several of Troy's early histories. In honor of that history, the building will be known as "The Bindery."

"Troy is growing organically," said Buell, via press release. "Big development and new construction are refilling the gaps in our city blocks, while independent entrepreneurs are giving everything they've got to rehab our historic buildings. That's what gives the place its unique heart that we all love -- personal blood, sweat and tears."

While rehabilitation projects spearheaded by large developers have been sweeping the city, such as a Missouri developer's plans for the former Marvin-Neitzel Corp. building and developer Sonny Bonacio's renovations inside the Keenan, so too have small entrepreneurs been investing in the city's oft-neglected historic real estate.

Entrepreneur Kathe Kennedy, who owns Indigo Organic HairSpa and Indigo Botanica, is rehabilitating 60 Second Street into a new space for her small business. Two blocks away, Vic Christopher and Heather LaVine, owners of the Charles F. Lucas Confectionery & Wine Bar, are rehabilitating 207 Broadway, a four-story edifice that was nearly condemned. Buell has been aiding in that effort.

This is the first major development project that Buell's new company, MHC, will be leading, but he has experience in the field. At the United Group, he led student-housing development for the company, working closely with the late Walter Uccellini on the City Station project, an RPI graduate housing project in the Congress-Ferry street corridor.

"I want to build a development company constantly in search of being amazing. This is a great jumping off point," said Buell, via press release.